Rod Stecklein eats a plate of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, beans and other sides Friday during a community Christmas dinner organized by Tom Mathers at his restaurant, The Boardroom. Stecklein said he has been eating Ramen noodles and hamburgers since his work at The Memorial Hospital ended. The community dinner was his first real meal in a week, he said.

The Boardroom plays host to holiday dinner

Tim Krieger dives into a piece of cherry pie at the dessert table on Christmas during a free community meal at The Boardroom. Various members of the community supplied the food to help brighten up Christmas for others.

Photo by Shawn McHugh

Chris Potgieter helps himself to some yams at the food buffet during a Christmas community meal at The Boardroom. Leftovers were sent home with those who needed them.

A few weeks before Christ­mas, Tom Mathers was standing behind the bar at his bar and restaurant, when three young men came in for a drink.

They all lived together and had worked together until they had lost their jobs.

“I asked them what they were doing for Christmas,” Mathers said. “And I asked them if I had a free dinner at the bar, would they come? And they said, ‘Absolutely.’”

Friday afternoon, Mathers and several volunteers from the community served a free meal at The Boardroom to more than 130 Craig residents who had limited options for the holiday.

Years ago, the dinner was an annual event, sometimes feeding as many as 350 people. About four years ago, Mathers said interest in the dinner had waned.

“I think times were good, and there just weren’t as many people coming,” he said. “Now, there are a lot of people out of work, and a lot of them aren’t but are still on a tight budget. I felt like we just needed to do it this year.”

Once Mathers had gauged the interest from his three patrons, the effort snowballed more quickly than he could have imagined.

People began to call the bar, asking what they could do to help.

Some just wanted to give cash, and when Mathers said he had enough, people insisted he keep it and use it for next year’s dinner.

One of Mathers’ regular customers cooked a whole turkey in her home and brought it in along with three trays of dressing and gravy.

“In fact, we had too much,” he said. “Everybody came down on their Christmas day and said, ‘I’d rather do this than stay home with my family.’”

But to Mathers, Friday’s event was still a family dinner.

He said it felt just like sitting down to Christmas dinner, except that everyone was invited to cook, eat and help clean up. His wife, Stacey, stood up and offered a blessing to all of the community members as they dug into their meal.

“You don’t have to be broke or without a job to come down,” Mathers said. “It’s a community gathering, and some of the food was so good.”

One person even volunteered to drive a bus full of seniors from Sunset Meadows to the meal.